In an explosive memoir released today, former CIA counterterrorism chief Jose Rodriguez provides new evidence that Rep. Nancy Pelosi lied when she declared she had not been briefed about the use of waterboarding.
Recall that in a Capitol Hill news conference three years ago, Pelosi (D-Calif.) vehemently denied being told about the use of waterboarding at a CIA briefing in September 2002. “We were not — I repeat — were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used,” Pelosi said. She later changed her story, telling reporters, “We were told explicitly that waterboarding was not being used.” She claimed she learned about the use of waterboarding the following year, only after other lawmakers were told by the CIA. “I wasn’t briefed, I was informed that somebody else had been briefed about it,” she said.
If Rodriguez is right, each of these statements is false. But other than a chart released by the CIA noting that Pelosi, then the ranking member of the House intelligence committee, and Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.), then chairman of the committee, had been given a “description of the particular [enhanced interrogation techniques] that had been employed,” there was little public evidence to contradict Pelosi’s claims. So she got away with it — until today.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday morning that the government should require self-insured religious institutions, such as the Catholic church in Washington, D.C., to directly pay for contraception and abortifacients.
Orangeburg, S.C. Speaking with reporters after a town hall event, Newt Gingrich scoffed at a request from Mitt Romney's campaign to release the “complete record” of the House ethics investigation of Gingrich when he was speaker.
Greg Sargent reports "that the DCCC [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] is sticking by Occupy Wall Street. Indeed, the DCCC is now raising money off that recent report of a GOP-connected corporate lobbying firm’s proposed smear campaign against the movement. Nancy Pelosi has authored a DCCC fundraising email that presents this as proof that Republicans are on the side of Wall Street and against Dems and the protesters..."
Maria Bartiromo asks Nancy Pelosi a few pointed questions on the oppressive regulatory environment. The minority leader says she has no problem with the National Labor Relations Board's decision to tell Boeing it can't build a factory in South Carolina:
A new Emergency Committee for Israel ad asks Democratic leaders who have embraced Occupy Wall Street to condemn the anti-Semitism elements of the protest. "Why are our leaders turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic, anti-Israel attacks?" the ad asks. "Tell president Obama and Leader Pelosi to stand up to the mob. Hate is not an American value."
This morning, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the protests on Wall Street are "justified" and that the status quo in Washington is "unacceptable."
"I think any criticism of the status quo and the establishment, it’s justified," Pelosi said to reporters at the Capitol. "I commend [Occupy Wall Street protesters] for being outspoken.
Pelosi said the message of Occupy Wall Street is clear: "The status quo is unacceptable and unsustainable for keeping a strong middle class, which is essential to our democracy."
During a press conference Thursday afternoon, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi praised those participating in the "Occupy Wall Street" protests. "God bless them," Pelosi said, "for their spontaneity. It's independent ... it's young, it's spontaneous, and it's focused. And it's going to be effective."
"The message of the protesters is a message for the establishment everyplace," said the House Democrats' leader. "No longer will the recklessness of some on Wall Street cause massive joblessness on Main Street."
